Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s5.9

c7.s5.9

As a matter of fact, as we have emphasized in the Introduction, the age of the Turks and the Afghans, besides setting up patterns for its followers, does not compare very unfavourably with the age of Akbar, to say nothing of the reign of the founder of the Mughal dynasty. In poetry and mental culture, Amir Khusrau, Malik Muhammad Jaisi, Chandi Das, and Mukandram still stand as the high water-mark of our intellectual culture. In religious poetry it is true that Tulsi Das of a later date occupies an unrivalled and magnificent position, but the beginnings of the great movement which produced Tulsi Das had been laid long before Akbar, even before Babur. In art and architecture, although the glories of Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor, were in the womb of the future, the products of the reign of the Sultans and of other provincial monarchs were no mean achievements in comparison. In the sphere of administration, we can only remark that though the century preceding the Mughal Emperor Akbar is not very fortunate in administrative talent, the claims of Sher Shah and ‘Ala-ud-din Khalji, who rob all the originality of their Mughal rival, can hardly be disputed. In one respect, the age with which we deal is superior to the one that followed it. It was the period of growth and healthy vigour, the age of adolescence. It bloomed into maturity, while the latter is followed by decay and disruption. The whole frame-work of the culture of the former shows signs of virility and vigour while the greatness of the latter cannot be dissociated from the germs of decadence and the loss of vitality and growth.¹